


Sweater Weather

by peaches_are_blue



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Cold Weather, Fluff and Smut, Internal Conflict, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Secret Crush, Slow Burn, Sweaters, stream sweater weather for clear skin, sweater weather is putting me in my feels, they are deffo flerting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:54:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27871890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peaches_are_blue/pseuds/peaches_are_blue
Summary: Zak has always thought of Daryll as his best friend, his closest friend at that, but when a simple prank made him realize much more, he is forced to be thrust into a world of anxiety and unrequited love. With the cold weather in California coming closer and the opposing warmth in his heart growing, the feverish emotions are etched into his soul by a song recommended to him by the man he loves. Dusk and dawn, along with a string of unsent messages, mix into a whirlpool of heartache and longing for Zak's other half.--inspired by the song Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood also heavily inspired by the dnf fic "Heatwaves"
Relationships: Zak Ahmed & Darryl Noveschosch, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 30
Kudos: 178





	1. Dusk Light

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! this is my first time writing a skephalo fic so please be nice ^^. 
> 
> please do not shove this fic or any other skephalo fic into the cc's faces, as they are uncomfy with that :(( please respect these boundaries!!
> 
> enjoy the first chapter and stay peachy!~

Zak ended the recording with a relieved sigh. He messed with the camera as he kept Daryll’s stream up in the background. Zak was upset and proud of himself. He was able to catch the attention of Daryll, but at the cost of his wallet.

“50K, just to meet up”, Zak laughed as he uploaded his camera footage and screen recordings onto a file on his desktop so that he could edit into a video later. As soon as the file had finished uploading on his desktop, Daryll decided to end the stream there, which was strange. 

Zak’s eyes moved over Daryll’s dancing Minecraft character as the coloured pixels flickered on his screen. Soon enough, Daryll’s stream had ended. Zak was confused as hell until he got a call from the brunette man. He joined the call only to be met with Daryll yelling.

“GEPPY, WHY DID YOU DONATE LIKE, 50K TO ME?” the man asked in a distressed voice. Zak cackled in return as more distressed noises were uttered from Daryll’s side.

“I wanted your attention, Bad.”

“YEAH, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO DONATE 50K FOR THAT!”

“Oh, come one, admit it, you like the attention, don’t you?” Zak said in a sly voice. Sputtering came from Daryll’s mic as Zak cackled like a witch once more. When he had finally calmed down, he leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms.

“You know what? Whatever, I’m refunding more than half of the donations,” Daryll said with a sigh. Zak uncrossed his arms in panic, flailing them around until they settled on his arms on his chair as he leaned forward.

“What do you mean? I am not accepting those refunds back.”

“I just- I don’t deserve all this money, Geppy, that’s all.” Zak could hear the audible frown through his headphones. Zak furrowed his eyebrows. He knew that Daryll was often self-conscious about his success, often feeling like he didn’t deserve the attention he was getting.

“Listen to me real good, Daryll, (He never used his real name unless he was serious) you deserve all of that money, seriously,” Zak said slowly. Daryll whined and said, “no.” Zak sighed and turned on his camera, and asked Daryll to do the same.

“Look at me, Daryll, in my eyes.”

“I am, I am Zak.”

“You deserve every dollar, every sub, every subscriber, every follow, and every donation you get,” Zak said with as much sincerity as he could muster. Daryll gave him a lopsided smile as he tilted his head.

“You really think so?” He said as he looked down to play with his fingers. Zak’s heart clenched at the sight.

“Of course I do, Daryll,” Zak said, trying to keep himself together. Daryll looked back up and smiled widely, showing off his slightly sharp canine teeth. Zak gave him a small smile.

“God, you’re so cute, Daryll,” Zak whispered, forgetting that his mic was dangerously close to his mouth, meaning Daryll had heard his little comment. Daryll’s face flushed as Zak panicked.

_NO NO NO NO WHY_ , Zak internally panicked because a) he didn’t say Bad b) his heart was racing at the fact that Daryll was blushing at his comment.

_OKAY, STAY CALM, WE CAN GET OUT OF THIS SITUATION_ , Zak thought to himself as the guilt started to swirl itself into reality. In his panic, he accidentally closed his camera, with Daryll giggling even harder.

“S-Sorry! It was an accident!” Zak quickly said. Bad just shook his head and turned off his camera as well.

“We can be no-cam buddies together!”

Zak tried to say something to make up for his comment about Daryll, but all he could do was just stutter. Daryll giggled, and Zak’s heart bloomed with warmth and desire for the man. Guilt choked and clogged up in Zak’s throat as he awkwardly laughed off the comment.

Even after they had moved on to something else entirely, Zak couldn’t brush off the feeling of guilt and disappointment bubbling in his chest, writhing and thrashing against the affection and love bubbling in him. Soon enough, the conversation had swerved into talking about meeting up.

“We can’t meet up ‘till next year, you know that, right?” Daryll said with a sad smile. Zak pouted at the older man. 

“I would risk getting the C-19 for you.”

“Simp…”

“HEY NOW!” Zak said, blushing once again. Daryll let out a laugh that consumed both of them. Zak calmed down and stared at his screen, envisioning the smile that was on Daryll’s face, feeling his own cheeks start to hurt.

Then a shiver ran down Zak’s spine as a gust of wind blew in through his open window. He rubbed his arms up and down as as a chill ran through him, goosebumps crawling up his arms and his teeth starting to lightly chatter. It may have been small, but Daryll noticed.

“Are you okay, Geppy?” 

“I’m fine, just a bit chilly, ya know?” Zak said with a small smile as he got up from his setup and slipped off his headset to go grab a hoodie. As he walked back and put on his headset to where the headband had made itself a spot on his hair, he heard Daryll’s laugh. 

“What are you laughing at this time?” He asked with a sigh, Daryll doing this often. He may act a bit annoyed, but there was no denying the small smile on his face.

“Ohh, nothing,” Daryll laughed out, clearly not telling the whole truth.

“Badddddd, now you gotta tell meeee,” Zak whined out cutely, trying to weed out whatever he had said while his headset was off of his ears.

“Okay, fineee, but only because you sounded so cute. I said I can warm you right up,” he said before holding his breath and waiting for a reaction. Zak melted onto his desk, his arms covering his head as he made unintelligible noises.

“Skeppy, are you okay?” Daryll laughed as Zak slowly raised his head to stare at Daryll’s discord profile picture. The green ring kept lighting up as Daryll’s giggles filled his ears. 

“You… are so annoying Bad,” Zak said as he slowly moved back to his original position. Daryll’s giggles mellowed out.

“Awwww, but you love me,” Daryll said, his cheeky smile audible through the call. Zak stammered as he tried to flirt to fight Daryll’s comment but came up with nothing. Daryll’s laughs filled up his ears for the nth time that evening.

The familiar feeling of affection clouded his brain. It surged through his body, warming and tugging at his heart as Zak desperately wished that the man was in front of him so that he could hold him close. His mind becomes hazy as he basked in the warmth, ignoring the fountain of shame that tried to flood his senses.

“Zak? Are you okay? You’ve gone quiet on me again,” Daryll said with an audible pout. Zak reeled himself back into reality as he tried to make an excuse to leave the call.

“Sorry, I’ve just not gotten a lot of sleep recently,” Zak said as his mouse hovered over the disconnect button, wanting desperately to leave the call. 

“Oh, okay then, make sure to get some sleep, okay?” 

“I will Bad. Bye-bye.”

“Bye!”

Zak disconnected from the call. Zak folded in on himself as he buried his face in his arms on his desk. His mind was wild as it clouded with shame and guilt and realization. It all washed over him at once like a waterfall, and it overwhelmed him.

He felt the warmth in his heart as he remembered Daryll’s laughs and comments to him, countering the shame and cold of the California winter seeping into his heater-less room. It felt feverish and uncomfortable and he felt every sensation on his skin. In an effort to not think about his actions and words, he grabbed his phone, car keys and headphones and headed out of his home.

He said goodbye to his friends, walked out his front door, hopped down the steps, and got into his car. He slammed the door shut, and with not one destination in his mind, he drove. He drove and drove and drove more, trying to shut out Daryll’s voice and laughs, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

Soon he pulled into the drive-through of a McDonald’s, ordered a medium coke and paid for it. He then proceeded to drive again, now with a destination in mind. He drove for a couple more minutes before he pulled into a parking lot connected to a beach. It was a public beach, meaning that people could come and go whenever.

He quickly finished the drink and walked out of the car, towards the sand. He had driven there at the right time, the sun was slowly slipping beneath the distant, crashing waves. He sat down as he opened his phone checking the messages that he had missed while driving. One of them was from Daryll.

It was a goodnight message, telling him to get enough sleep. Zak chuckled as he looked back up at the sunset, knowing that he won’t be sleeping for the next five or so hours. He opened his Spotify and scrolled through his liked songs as he connected his AirPods. He suddenly stopped at one song that he realized he didn’t save.

It was a song that Daryll had recommended to him, called “Sweater Weather”. He decided to press play and put it on repeat as he stared at the sunset. The song started off slow as Zak relaxed his tense muscles. He let the song repeat itself a couple of times before he let the lyrics sink into his mind.

_“Head in the clouds but my gravity’s centered”_

_“Touch my neck, and I’ll touch yours”_

_“You in those little high-waisted shorts”_

Zak gasped at the sexually-implied lyrics, wondering how Daryll even liked the song. He kept listening to the song, the lyrics becoming more and more familiar in his mind. Zak’s heart felt weird. It was blooming with warmth while the cold wind enveloped him, giving him that feverish feeling from before.

_“Put my finger on your tongue 'cause you love to taste yeah”_

_“These hearts adore, everyone the other beat heart is for”_

_“Inside this place is warm”_

_“Outside it starts to pour”_

Zak froze as the lyrics seeped into his very being. His mind started wandering to Daryll’s face, every time he stared one beat too long at him, every time he almost let him know that there was something more that he wanted. 

Zak let in a ragged breath of cold, frigid air as he looked at the slipping sun, the dusk of the night settling into place. The sweater around him did nothing to prevent him from the cold, yet the blooming love for the brunette warmed his core. 

The guilt started choking him up again as few tears escaped his eyes. Never in his life had he ever heard lyrics that etched themselves into the ridges of his soul with want and need to the point where it was painful for him to continue listening to the song.

As he continued looking out to his twilight surroundings, he realized what he wanted and needed. He needed Daryll with him. Beside him. He missed him, and not in a way that friends do. He wanted him to be right beside him so he could kiss those lips of his.

Zak froze again at his thoughts. The frigid breeze seeped into his skin even more as the tears on his face dried, his core still being warm. 

“What am I saying? What am I thinking?” Zak said into the wind, sending his hands through his hair in a panic. He stared into the now dark and distant waves, the dark blue crashing together, mimicking his inner turmoil. 

The feeling of calm washed over him. He released his hands from his hair. He stared at the waves a bit longer in complete and utter silence, his AirPods died a long time ago, which made the song pause.

He then took out his phone one last time and snapped a couple of photos of the sea, letting the calm settle into his chest. The pictures turned out well and he posted them both to Instagram and Twitter. He captioned his twitter upload with “I miss you, I want you here so bad”, while he captioned his insta post with some of the lyrics from the song.

He turned his notifs off, ignoring the influx of Twitter replies and insta likes. He looked out into the light until the stars settled themselves in the midnight sky above him. He checked the time on his phone and decided to return to his car for his long ride back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading the first chapter! updates may be a bit slow because of school, but i will try my hardest to update as much as possible! ^~^


	2. Work to Forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *boogies in* WHAT THE FUCK IS UP IM BACK HAHAHAHHAAH. *ahem* anyways, the chapter will have ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) content so just a warning for that. oh yeah and that ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) content is continuous too so :D
> 
> thank you for the tremendous amount of support, i wasn't expecting people to read this fic but wow thank you all sm for the kudos and comments ^^
> 
> enjoy the chapter and stay peachy!~

Zak walked through the house, the cold wooden floors sending shivers up his spine with every step. He stopped to look outside a window, recognizing that he was on a beach. The deep, blue water of the waves crashed with each other, and the sky was grey—the contrast made for a lovely view in Zak’s opinion.

He continued his way through the house, continuing towards what he assumed was the living room. It was a gorgeous space with a glass sliding door and window panels around it. In front of it were a pile of blankets, a deep brown coffee table, a tv propped up on the wall and a grey loveseat backed up against the wall. 

Zak noticed a person sitting in front of the window wall watching the crashing waves, a cup of tea in their hands and blanket wrapped around them. Upon closer inspection, he notices that the person was Daryll. The air suddenly turned warm and comfortable.

Zak slowly sat next to Daryll, as not to interrupt the man from his sea-watching. He didn’t question why he was seeing him at the moment. He just let it go, watching the waves crash at each other, feeling calm and anxious at the same time. 

“Do you know where we are?” Daryll asked, breaking the silence. Zak’s intake of breath sounded deafening; the dead silence after Daryll’s question felt heavy. Zak rubbed his palms together, creating some type of warmth as he looked around the place.

“A beach house in my dreams. A quaint one at that,” Zak replied, busying himself with looking at his surroundings. Daryll let out a soft chuckle.

“Do you know which beach we are on, Zak?” Zak’s head snapped back to the older man when he said his real name. Zak gulped.

“I-I don’t seem to remember,” Zak lied through his teeth. He knew _exactly_ where they were. They were at the beach from last night, except now it was during the day. Daryll looked at the younger with a skeptical look but shrugged it off anyway.

And so they talked. They conversed about many different subjects, from friends to again the topic of meeting up. Zak decided to sneak a look at the man, only to find that Daryll was already studying his facial structure.

He noticed the small details about Daryll’s face, his steel eyes with flecks of green of them, that both managed to be cool and calm but warm and inviting at the same time. His slight stubble over the lower part of his face made him look so much more attractive than he already was.

Zak felt the urge to move closer; whether it was his dream telling him to or if he wanted to study Daryll’s face, he did not care. Daryll moved closer, and it was only a matter of moments before their bated breaths were felt on the other’s face. Zak decided to close his eyes and the gap, his lips interlocking with Daryll’s.

It felt so _good_ . So, so fucking _good_ that Zak never wanted to let go of Daryll’s lips.

Zak wanted more, so much more than this. 

Daryll put his hands on the younger’s waist, pulling him into his lap. Zak cupped the older man’s face, tilting his head to kiss him even deeper. They pulled away to breathe but immediately went back in to kiss again. 

Zak was hungry for Daryll’s lips, and it didn’t help that Daryll was feeding his hunger with those succulent lips of his. They pulled back once more, gasping for air. Zak’s chest rose and fell, like the oceans behind them.

“You know, I wanted to watch the waves, but this view is just as good,” Daryll said, tangling his fingers in Zak’s black hair, pulling his head back to reveal his collarbone. Zak shivered as he grasped Daryll’s sweater, the man’s teeth grazing his neck and collarbone. 

Daryll pulled away from his neck to admire the artistry that he had now painted on Zak’s skin. Zak looked down at Daryll, feeling desire and love rising in his chest. They interlocked their lips once again, pulling at each other’s hair and clothes. 

Then Zak woke up.

His eyes flew open as he jumped up, breathing harshly while he tried to register his surroundings. It appears that he arrived home from the beach last night but had fallen asleep in the car. Zak ran his hand through his hair, reaching out for his phone to check the time only to find out it had died over the night.

Zak sighed, taking a moment to calm the adrenaline in his veins, only to find an uncomfortable sensation down _there_. He looked down at his crotch and saw that a tent formed in black jeans. He felt disgust rise into his throat, knowing that his dream with Daryll caused this.

Zak decided just to ignore it and let it go away on its own. He grabbed his phone, AirPods and keys and got out of his car, thanking his past self, who had at least turned off the engine. He walked out of the door that connected the garage to the rest of the house, only to be met with George’s worried face.

“Oh, good morning, Spifey. How are you?” Zak asked, stretching his body before throwing his keys, phone and AirPods onto the kitchen counter. George followed him, still worried about last night. 

“You were gone for almost 4 hours last night Zak, I was worried. Are you okay?” George asked with his brows furrowed, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“I’ve just been… thinking a lot lately, don’t worry about me, okay?”

George sighed. “Alright, fine, are you hungry, though? I made scrambled eggs and toast.”

“Yeah, I’ll have some. Thanks, Spifey.’

‘Yeah, yeah, just eat.”

Zak ran upstairs to his room, thanking George for breakfast. He walks into his bedroom and puts his phone and AirPods on his charger. He then travelled to his desk and sat down in front of his setup, wondering what to do.

_I think I’ll just do editing for today_ ; Zak thought to himself as he pulled himself to his desk, sitting his hands on his keyboard and mouse, getting to work immediately.

He started up his editing program and went to work. The previous worries of the dream left his mind as he got into the zone, getting a huge chunk of the editing done in one sitting. He didn’t even notice the time zooming by until he heard his stomach grumble. He stretched his arms and legs, looking at his surroundings and the time of the wall. 

He walked downstairs, moving to the kitchen to see if there was something to eat. Fortunately, George was cooking spaghetti for him and Zak. 

“Hey Spifey, need me to toast the garlic bread?” Zak said as he opened the fridge. George jumped, scared out of his skin by Zak’s sudden appearance behind him. Zak snickered at George’s reaction, who slowed down his pasta sauce’s cooking to put a hand over his heart.

“Can you announce yourself next time or make some noise please?” George said, putting down his spatula. Zak laughed once again.

“Sorry, sorry, but still. Do you want me to toast the garlic bread?” Zak said, his giggles taking over his voice. George’s body slightly shook with laughter as well as he went back to cooking the sauce.

“Yeah, go ahead, and don’t burn yourself,” George said. Zal scoffed and rolled his eyes. 

“Listen, I may be clumsy, but I’m not dumb,” Zak said, moving towards the toaster. It was now George’s turn to scoff and roll his eyes. 

“Mhm, I don’t think you know that those two things are often connected,” George said, moving the sauce to spaghetti on the plates.

Zak gasped in fake offence. “How dare you! Correlation does not always equal causation!” 

“Yeah, but in your case, it does.”

“Why you-”

And that is what they did for the next five minutes, bicker. However, it was all in good fun. They sat down at the table, ate their food, cracked jokes, and talked about their newest video ideas.

“Speaking of youtube videos, I need to edit mine,” Zak said as he got up and put his dishes in the dishwasher. George smiled.

“At least you’re not leaving me with dirty dishes to wash again,” George teased the younger male, who let out a whine.

“I’m going upstairs now,” Zak said with fake depression in his voice, leaving George laughing at Zak.

Zak eventually made his back to his room, his half-edited video waiting for his return. He sat down and began working again, mainly to finish the video, but also because it helped in taking away the anxiety of thinking about his dream. After an hour or so, Zak only had a quarter of his editing left to finish up. 

He decided to take a break and scroll through his phone, to see if he had missed anything. Zak scrolled through his notification panel, chuckling at a couple of the replies and comments from last night’s posts. 

He paused when he read Daryll’s texts. 

Zak felt shame as he opened his messages. He slowly sat down on his bed as he stared at the four lone lines of texts he had received from Daryll from yesterday and this morning. He read the text messages from this morning,

_good morning skeppy!_

_make sure to eat something_ ^0^

Zak sat and wallowed in his guilt. He was transported back to this morning, the taste of Daryll’s lips entered his mouth and he remembered his kisses on his neck. He lightly drew his hands over the place he remembered Daryll had left hickeys, though they didn’t exist in real life.

Zak threw his phone on his bed behind him and decided to take a shower to let relax and distract himself. He grabbed his towel and walked into the bathroom, and took off his clothes.

Zak stepped into the shower and turned on the water, hissing at the shot of cold water before it turned warm. He let his tense muscles relax under the hot water, the steam starting to build up around him.

He squirted some shampoo into his hand and ran it through his hair. He scrubbed his scalp, hard. It was almost as if he scrubbed hard enough, the thoughts of Daryll will be washed out of his head and go down the drain.

He tried to forget Daryll’s touch and face as he washed his body, shivering as he touched the places Daryll had touched him in his dream. He rubbed his hands over those spaces again and again; he didn’t know whether it was his imagination or the steam but he felt Daryll’s calloused hands run up against them. He felt hot and lustful, moaning as his legs rubbed up against his problem.

He looked down, seeing his problem from this morning arise again. He looked down at it horrified. 

_Did I really get hard to the thought of Bad?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i will now shamelesly plug my wattpad: its @/-peachesareblue there is smut content on there if you would like to see that
> 
> it is now time for me to disappear for a month /j


	3. Regret and Unsent Messages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooooOOOOOOOOO WHATS UP HOES /j GUESS WHO'S BACK. before we start there is ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) content in the beginning so uh yeah be carefulllll
> 
> (i love yall sm thank you for the support)
> 
> other than that enjoy and stay peachy!~

Zak bit his lip as he stared at his hard dick. The steam started fogging up his brain like the glass walls around him, droplets running down the glass panels and his body. He wrapped a hand around his dick, feeling some regret in his actions, but the pleasure took over his brain immediately as he rubbed his slit lightly. 

He leaned his arm against the wall of the shower, covering his eyes. Warm droplets of water ran down his back, adding to his lust.

He pumped his dick, moaning as he remembered Daryll’s hands on him. He imagined those hands doing unholy to him and bucked his hips into his hand, feeling closer to his release.

With one final pump, he came all over the wall. He kept pumping, letting every drop of cum leave his body. He huffed as steam was building up more and more around him. He looked down, his limp dick in his hands. The regret started flooding his systems as he let it fall out of his palm.

He felt tears running down his cheeks, the salty droplets mixing with the warm water from the showerhead. 

“WHY? WHY HIM?” Zak shouted, his fists slamming against the wall he was leaning against. Dry and cracked sobs wretched themselves from his vocal cords. The guilt felt too much. Zak slid down onto his knees, pathetically sobbing on the floor.

He was overwhelmed. He loved Daryll; he really did. Whether it be as a friend or more, Daryll was an essential person in his life. Losing him would completely ruin the younger male, leaving him weak in this melancholic world. 

Zak eventually calmed down from crying and stood back up slowly. The water had now run cold, and Zak used the opportunity to clean the shower stall, feeling the shame of the unholy things he had performed there crawling up his spine. 

He finally walked out of that damned shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist, taking his old clothes and throwing them in the laundry basket to clean later. He walked into his room and decided to wear boxers and a loose t-shirt.

He sat down in his chair, trying not to think about what had happened in the shower. He tousled his hair with his hands and decided to just get the editing over with it.  _ No point in trying to put it off any longer _ , Zak thought to himself as he finished the last bit of editing. When he finished the task, he saved the now finished video into his uploads folder to upload onto Youtube later. With nothing else left to do or film, he sat in his chair feeling restless.

Soon anxiety flooded his senses, making him feel panicky. He didn’t know if it was the shame or the guilt that made him feel this way, but it felt weird. He started to hyperventilate, his actions playing through his head again and again. He tucked his knees under his chin on his chair, his eyes wide as he tried to regain control of his breathing.

And then the watergates opened. Hot tears flowed down Zak’s face as he curled himself into a ball, feeling the weight of the world crush him. He quickly grabbed his phone, put in his AirPods, and put on “Sweater Weather” again.

He lay down on his bed, feeling the soft sheets surround him, warding off his panic only by a bit. He closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing, focusing on its lyrics and its tune. Little by little, he felt his panic ebb away. 

When he had finally calmed down, he opened his eyes. The sunset light drifted in through his window, adding an orange tinge to his room. He let in a big breath, feeling his lungs expand, and let it go before swinging his legs over the side of his bed.

He stretched his arms and picked up stray clothes around his room, deciding to clean up as he still felt a bit restless. When he finished, he still felt a bit uneasy. He didn’t know what to do, so he decided to go back to the beach again.

Grabbing his phone and car keys (his AirPods were in his ears and the case was in his pockets) and putting on a pair of pants, he ran downstairs, shouting to George that he’ll be out of the house. George called back to be home before midnight. He yelled back in agreement and went into the garage to get into his car.

Zak drove out of the garage and rode his way to the beach again, making sure to stop by McDonald’s to grab a milkshake like last time. He then drove to the same beach again, quickly leaving his car and rushing to the sand.

He sat down, sipping his milkshake as calmness finally washed over him. Zak closed his eyes, letting the wind run through his hair. He opened his eyes again and turned on his phone. Opening Spotify, he pressed on the playlist that he had made on his way to the beach, letting play,

Zak’s eyes traced the waves. They were a bit calmer than he had last seen them, but they still produced enough white foam to make the water look beautiful. He relaxed his tense muscles, feeling the sea-salt air flow around him and seep into his body.

He felt safe and comforted. Zak smiled gently, leaving the playlist on as the waves crushed gently over each other. The restlessness let his body completely. Zak realized that this was a safe space, a place he could come to if he felt anxious or uneasy.

After the playlist had stopped playing, Zak opened his eyes to see the waves slowly moving in and out. The waves had practically become calm. He smiled and got up, his business here finished.

“I really wanna bring Bad over to this place,” Zak said softly into the wind. A gentle gust of wind blew into his face, almost as if the earth replied to his statement. He chuckled softly.

“Do you think Bad would like it here?” Zak asked the wind again, feeling a bit silly doing so. Another gush of wind blew in his face, making him giggle. 

“I’ll take it as a yes,” Zak said before turning around and leaving the beach. He got into his car and checked the time on his phone, surprised that he had only spent one or two hours at the beach. He smiled at some texts Bad had sent him and powered off his device, putting it down so he could drive back.

He parked in his garage, feeling tired but calm. He got out and walked back into the house, greeting George again. The man was sitting on the couch, holding a plate of food in his hand, and was watching the TV.

“Hello Skeppy, Dinner is on the table. You look pretty tired, so don’t worry about doing dishes, okay?” George said with a calm smile. Zak smiled back, grabbing a plate and loading it with that he could take upstairs to his room.

“Thanks, George, I promise I’ll cook something tomorrow for us,” Zak apologized as he took his plate upstairs. George waved him off, yelling him a good night. Zak walked up the stairs and to his room. He sat down as he finalized whatever he needed to upload the youtube video. 

He munched on his vegetables and scrolled through twitter, feeling fatigue set into his body. He felt sore and absolutely parched, so he made sure to gulp down some water before doing his nightly routine. 

He laid down on his soft sheets, feeling the fatigue finally work its way up to his eyelids. Before he could close his eyes and fall asleep though, he got a notification on his phone. It was Bad. Confused, Zak pressed down on the notification and it took him to his messages.

_ hey muffinhead! wanna stream with me?? _

Zak chewed his bottom lip. He didn’t know if he could even face Bad after everything that had happened today. He decided against it, seeing that he had already gotten ready for bed and everything.

_ sorry bad :(( feeling really sleepy today _

Zak waited a second or two before he got a reply.

_ pweaseeeee with a cherry on top? _

Zak chuckled at the reply.

_ no bad, super sleepy. _

_ i can barely even hold my phone atm… _

_ :(((((( _

_ alright good night skeppy, play with me later then! _

Zak typed out a response without thinking. He decided to read over what he typed before hitting “send” and gasped. He quickly backspaced, frantically typing a better response. He mentaly cursed at himself before powering off his phone.

“What the fuck am I doing?” Zak said into the air, laying an arm across his face. Nothing responded to him, no gush of wind or whirring computer fans. Nothing.

Zak sighed again, the fatigue and soreness taking over his body. He slowly drifted off into dreamland, the waves of clam washing over him and settling into his face, relaxing his features. If one were to see him at that moment, they would think that Zak didn’t have a single worry in the world. 

Little would they know what thoughts would race through his head as he thought of Daryll. The waves of guilt he would feel whenever he found him attractive in a way friends shouldn’t. Little do they know the internal struggle of Zak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ACK I FORGOT BUT HERE'S THE PLAYLIST THAT SKEPPY WAS PLAYING (YES I MADE A PLAYLIST FOR THE FIC PLEASE FOLLOW MY SPOTIFY PLAYLISTS I NEED VALIDATION): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1eJJwNNs8wHzaF5w13NFADsi=7A6KTbXATEGGQyBzWfXHHg
> 
> ANOTHER SHAMELESS WATTPAD PLUG
> 
> my account was @-peachesareblue there is smut content on there and there is also a dream smp book there that's pretty cool too that's only a wattpad exclusive :eyes:
> 
> that is it thank you for reading


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